Former leading New Zealand publisher and bookseller, and widely experienced judge of both the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the Montana New Zealand Book Awards, talks about what he is currently reading, what impresses him and what doesn't, along with chat about the international English language book scene, and links to sites of interest to booklovers.

Friday, May 19, 2017

Hachette U.K. CEO Retiring at End of the Year

Shelf Awareness

Tim Hely Hutchinson

David Shelley

Tim Hely Hutchinson, who has been CEO of Hachette U.K. since it was founded in 2004, is retiring at the end of the year, and David Shelley, currently CEO of Little, Brown Group and Orion, will replace him, the Bookseller reported.As of January 1, Shelley will also become a member of the international board of Hachette Livre and a director of Hachette Book Group in the U.S. He will report to Arnaud Nourry, chairman and CEO of Hachette Livre. Hely Hutchinson will act as a consultant to the Group until the end of 2018.Shelley became CEO of Little, Brown Group and Orion in 2015. No one new will be appointed to that role.Hely Hutchinson commented: "I have been superbly supported by Arnaud, my present and former colleagues and our authors throughout these golden years at Hachette and I could not possibly be more grateful. I know that David and his colleagues will do brilliantly when they take over and I wish them the very best of good fortune. I have always, since my early Macmillan days, loved being part of the publishing world because of its wonderful people and look forward to staying in touch with my author, agent and publishing friends and having time to enjoy my many outside interests with them."Nourry commented: "I wish Tim had decided to stay for longer but he is famously a planner and he has been working towards a crescendo with great results and superb acquisitions and the move into HUK's beautiful riverside home at Carmelite House. He has had an amazing career, including the founding of Headline, then Hodder Headline and finally working as my business partner to create and expand Hachette U.K. To my mind, his greatest legacy is all the talent he has recruited and developed, including the senior team whose appointments we are announcing today, but also more deeply throughout the company. He has always striven to run a talented and happy house, as well as a successful one, and he has succeeded. I am so glad he is staying with us until the end of 2018 to help the new management and I will be wishing him a very long and happy retirement when the time comes."